Butler Township police should be praised by township residents for their quick work in apprehending four teens who allegedly stole a handgun and other items from vehicles early Tuesday in the municipality's Lyndora and Highfield neighborhoods.

Acting on an initial report from a woman who spotted four males around her vehicle in the 400 block of Main Street in Lyndora at about 4:40 a.m., township officers put their training and investigatory instincts to work in quickly apprehending the suspects, despite two of them running into woods in an effort to avoid capture.

Two of the suspects are 18; the other two, 15.

While the police merit praise for their quick response, at least in the case of the two 15-year-olds, if not all four teens, the following questions must be asked:

Why were they out roaming the streets at that time of the early morning? Don't they have parents concerned about what they might be doing at those hours?

Indeed, do they not have any parental supervision whatsoever?

And, from the teens' perspective: Aren't they concerned about how having a criminal record might affect their chances of succeeding in life?

They might have regarded the vehicle break-ins as a prank, but the break-ins were much more than that, as they'll learn during the course of their experiences with the court system.

In the case of all four, they made a bad decision and now they'll have to live with the fallout.

Thanks to the quick work of the township police, it's to be hoped that a message has been delivered that the township police are ready to respond effectively to a crime at a moment's notice, regardless of the hour, and that witnesses to a suspected crime should not hesitate to call them immediately.

Some Pennsylvania residents might think the state House of Representatives deserves positive reviews for approving on Wednesday significant changes to the state's two large public-sector pension plans.The aim of the legislation, which now moves to the Senate, is to delay and smooth out a looming jump in costs to taxpayers stemming from the so-called 2001 pension grab that increased state workers' — including legislators' — pensions by 50 percent and teachers' pensions by 25 percent.On the school districts front, property tax payers, without some remedial action from Harrisburg, face a substantial tax increase beginning in 2012 to fund the teachers' pensions.But before any plaudits are handed out to lawmakers, they deserve criticism for continuing to avoid the question of whether in fact the pension-increase action complied with all requirements tied to consideration of legislation as stipulated by the state constitution. Has anyone in the General Assembly searched the records regarding that irresponsible grab to determine whether lawmakers at the time properly considered the legislation over the required time frame before voting?Considering the Legislature's penchant for cutting corners when it's to lawmakers' advantage, a very real question regarding the pension grab is whether it was in fact legal.It would be uplifting if someone in the Legislature — including, hopefully, this county's legislators — would probe those questions and make a public report to state taxpayers, even if nothing ever results from that information search. Taxpayers have a right to know.As demonstrated by the July 2005 middle-of-the-night legislative pay-raise vote, which sparked a firestorm of protest, not all is done properly in the state capital. The legislative corruption probe has provided much more eye-opening evidence of that troubling fact.Yes, it's notable that current state lawmakers are trying to ease the pain of the 2001 pension action, but they're not doing enough, as long as they ignore the basic issue surrounding legality of the original action.

Balance between economic and environmental interests is necessary, but John Hanger, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, is right in asking the state Legislature to clarify state regulatory powers over Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania.The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the deadly coal mine disaster in West Virginia and two recent blowouts of natural gas wells have all been reminders that extraction of energy resources involves risk. And with these recent accidents, it appears that industry lacks balance, focusing on profits far more than safety. Lax or compromised government regulation has contributed to some of these recent disasters.Pennsylvania has vast amounts of natural gas trapped in shale a mile below the surface, and bringing that gas to the surface can create tens of thousands of additional jobs in the state as well as bringing billions of dollars of financial benefit.Hanger noted that Pennsylvania could be producing as much as 10 percent of all the natural gas in the United States.The economic opportunity represented by Marcellus Shale cannot be ignored, but neither can the obligation to operate the wells as safely as possible, for not only nearby workers but also for the underground water supplies, streams, rivers and properties of those living near drilling operations.Hanger wants to clarify the state's power to regulate drilling for natural gas, particularly the higher pressure of deep gas and the chemical-laden water used for "fracking" or cracking open the layered shale formations to release the gas.A report late last week said that new standards proposed by the Rendell administration for dealing with the chemical-laden water used in Marcellus Shale drilling were approved by the Independent Regulatory Review Commission. And that, too, is appropriate. Regulating how that water is used, treated and re-used is an important part of ensuring that gas from Marcellus Shale is extracted as safely as possible, with the least harm being caused to the environment.A tough, but fair, regulatory environment is appropriate to protect people and the environment while still allowing the value of the natural gas to be realized. Recent events have demostrated that industry cannot and will not regulate itself effectively.